The Effectiveness of Instructional Strategies Employed at Large Class Setting of the Four Selected Universities of Ethiopia
Keywords:
Large class size; instructional strategies; higher learning institutionsAbstract
This study was intended to investigate the effectiveness of
instructional strategies employed in Large Class Setting (LCS) of the
four selected Universities of Ethiopia (FSUE). It investigates the major
instructional strategies currently used in LCS, examines their
effectiveness and proposes effective ones that are suitable for the context
of LCS at FSUE. The subjects used for this study were 700 university
students who were selected using simple random sampling (lottery
method) from four selected Ethiopian universities and 12 university
teachers who were selected using stratified random sampling. The
researcher used descriptive survey research design to conduct this
study. The two approaches of data analysis (quantitative and
qualitative) were used for the analysis of pertinent data that were
collected through questionnaire, face-to-face interview and observation.
The result indicated that teachers of FSUE use lecturing as the
predominant instructional strategy for running teaching at LCS without
giving any credit to students' learning preferences which is considered
ineffective. There are different factors responsible for the use of such
ineffective instructional strategy: clear gap in teachers' pedagogical
skills, clear gap in making professional teachers to teach in LCS and
mismatch of students' population and the infrastructure needed for
running teaching-learning process in LCS. Based on these findings,
therefore, pertinent pedagogical training that promote teaching at LCS
and the fulfillment of infrastructure that accommodate students'
population in LCS are recommended for concerned management bodies
of FSUE.
References
Aagard, H., Bowen,K., and Olesova, L. 2010. “Hot seat: Opening the Backchannel in Large Lectures.†Educause Quarterly, 33: 3.
Arias, J., & Walker, D. (2004). Additional evidence on the relationship between class size and student performance. Journal of Economic Education, 4(3), 311-329.
Aronson, J. R. (1987). Six keys to effective instruction in large classes: Advice from a practitioner. In M. G. Weimer (Ed.), Teaching large classes well (pp. 31-37). San Francisco, CA: Jossey -Bass, Inc., Publishers.
Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. What the student does.
Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Bostian, L. R. (1983). Even in classes of 100 to 150, personalization is possible. Journalism Educator, 38(2), 8-10.
Brooks, R. P. (1987). Dealing with details in a large class. In M. G. Weimer (Ed.), Teaching large classes well (pp. 39-44). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.
Botha, L.; Fourie, N. & Geyser, H. (2005). Teaching, Learning and assessment in large classes: a reality of educational change. Education as Change,9 (1), 60-79.
Carpenter, J. M. 2006. Effective Teaching Methods for Large Classes, Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences Education, Vol. 24, No. 2:13-23.
Cooper, J. L., & Robinson, P. (2000). The argument for making large classes seem small. In J. MacGregor, J. L. Cooper, K. A. Smith, & P. Robinson (Eds.), Strategies for energizing large classes: From small groups to learning communities(pp. 5-16). New Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 81. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Fosnot, C. (1998). Enquiring teachers, enquiring learners.New York: Teachers College Press.
Frederick, P. J. (1987). Student involvement: Active learning in large classes. In M. G. Weimer (Ed.), Teaching large classes well (pp. 45-56). San Francisco, CA: Jossey -Bass, Inc., Publishers.
Gibbs, G. & Jenkins, A. (Eds.). (1992). Teaching large classes in higher education. London: Kogan.
Gibbs, G., Lucas, L., & Simonite, V. (1996). Class size and student performance: 1984-94. Studies in Higher Education, 21(3), 261-273.
Glass, G.V. & Smith, M.L. (1979) Meta-analysis of Research on the Relationship of
Class Size and Achievement. USA, Colorado: Laboratory of Educational Research,
University of Colorado.
Gleason, M. (1986). Better communication in large courses. College Teaching, 34(1), 20-24.
Hancock, T. (1996). Effects of class size on college student achievement. College Student Journal, 30(2), 479-481.
Hayes, D. 1997. Helping Teachers to Cope with Large Classes. English Language
Teaching Journal, 51(2), Oxford University Press.
Jungic, V, Kent, D.& Menz, P. (2006). Teaching large classes: Three instructors, One experience. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 1, 1-15.
Kennedy, P., & Siegfried, J. (1997). Class size and achievement in introductory economics: Evidence from the TUCE III data. Economics of Education Review, 16(4), 385-394.
Kerr, A. (2011). Teaching and learning in large classes at Ontario Universities: An Exploratory study. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario.
Knapper, C. (1987). Large classes and learning. In M. G. Weimer (Ed.), Teaching large classes well, (pp. 5-15). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.
Lowman, Joseph. 1995. Mastering the Techniques of Teaching, 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Schanzenbach, D.W. (2014). Does Class Size Matter? Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved on 21/02/2015 from http://nepc.colorado.edu/publication/ does-class-size-matter.
Toth, L., &Montagna, L. (2002). Class size and achievement in higher education: A summary of current research. College Student Journal, 36(2), 253-261).
UNESCO. (2006). Practical Tips for Teaching Large Classes: A Teacher’s Guide. Bangkok, UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education.
Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge University Press.
Wehrli, G. and Nyquist, J.G. (2003). Creating an Educational Curriculum for Learners at Any Level. AABB Conference.
Weimer, M. G. (Ed.). (1987). Teaching large classes well. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers.
Weimer, M. (1990). Improving college teaching: Strategies for developing instructional effectiveness. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Yoder, J. & Hochevar, C. (2005). Encouraging active learning can improve students’ performance on examinations. Teaching of Psychology, 32(2), 91-95.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2016 Meshesha Make Jobo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published by IJLTER are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives 4.0 International License (CCBY-NC-ND4.0).
